A Nice New Blog About Simple Living

One of my online pals, Rena, has a new blog called Back to Basics. It’s really neat! She’s only just started it, but already it has a lot of very helpful tips and ideas for making your life healthier, simpler, and less toxic. That issue has been on my mind a great deal, too. The kids and I have been reading a book that exposes just how many toxins are all around us. It’s outright creepy!

Rena has some very good “recipes” for homemade toothpaste, detergent, and even dishwasher detergent! I have GOT to try that. I hope she continues to add more content, because I think this fills a need. Sure, we all know that we should choose natural products for cleaning and health and stuff like eczema treatment, but HOW do you do it? So this blog wants to answer those questions.

Check it out!

Would Someone Please Explain Foodbuzz??

I joined Foodbuzz eons ago. I have since tried to understand how on earth the thing works, but have been unable to figure it out. What the heck does it do? Is it just a cooking kiosk, a site where people toss up links to their food blogs? Is it a voting site, where people vote on your blog or recipe and you somehow make it to the front page?

I’d heard that you could earn a little money from the site… but I haven’t been able to really figure out how it all works. It seems confusing. I admit, I am an impatient gal– if I can’t figure it out relatively quickly (about the time it takes to drink a cup of coffee), then I either move along, or ask for help. ?? So I’m asking for Foodbuzz career advice here. I want to earn some $$…. but how do you do it? If I have to submit recipes and have them voted on…. sheesh, I’d probably lose money. :S My recipes are not anything near gourmet or desirable They are plain old, quick and easy family meals. We’re talking serious homespun here.

?? Is there any room in Foodbuzz for a plain Jane cook like me?

Four Foods on… Friday? Monday? Tuesday?

I can never seem to get this meme straight. I look for it at Val’s site, but I can’t seem to find it on Friday. Then, when I visit Chatbug Karen’s blog and By the Sea blog, they have theirs posted. I feel left out. lol.

Well, even though FFFF #119 has been issued, I’m going to try to play catch up with the previous ones first. The questions are interesting. Sorry I am so inconsistent with this meme!

1. Do you prefer soft serve ice cream or hard ice cream?

Ice cream is ice cream! I’ll eat it either way.

2. What is the strangest sandwich you’ve ever made?

I’ve probably made a lot of weird stuff… recently, we make hummus wraps. They are very good, and very filling. But because hummus is a food that people either love or hate, our sandwich gets strong reactions. You can see our recipe with photo here.

3. What’s your favorite type (not flavor) of potato chip?

Anything but the ripped. I don’t like those. They are too heavy and crunchy.

4. What size spoon do you usually eat soup with at home?

I don’t eat soup. Yuk. OK OK, on those RARE occasions that I do eat soup, it’s with a regular spoon.

Here’s FFFF #119. I like the questions because they are “language” oriented. I like learning about how other cultures interpret words.

1. How do you pronounce manicotti? Men-e-got, man-i-cotti or some other way?

I don’t think I have ever said this word, just read it. And I live in an Italian area! I guess it’s man-i-cotti here.

2. What do you can the carbonated drink that comes in a bottle? Soda, tonic, pop, fizzy or something else?

Soda. I have never heard a northerner say “pop.” I always thought southerners said it that way. I have never heard any northerner say “tonic,” either. You suuuuure he wasn’t pulling your leg, Val?

3. What do you call a sandwich on a long roll? Sub, grinder, hoagie, hero, poor boy or something else?

A sub.

4. Do you call it broth, boullion or stock? How do you make chicken stock?

I have always thought the three were entirely different entities. Broth is the cooked juices of meat without the addition of vegetables, isn’t it? Stock is the cooked juices of meat with vegetables, isn’t it? (Or are they the other way around??). Boullion is flavored powder pressed into cubes, no? How do I make chicken stock? Well… most of the time I buy the cans. Sometimes when I am extremely motivated, I cook the carcass. Right now, I can’t cook because I don’t have a kitchen yet. Here’s hoping I can save up all my nickels and aj madison coupons and finish this kitchen by the end of August!